Absolutely. My dd is a HS senior, and I have hired a tutor to work with her to augment her elearning and make sure she isn’t missing anything. And she actually attends a small charter school that is trying very hard to pivot and adapt, but are going full remote for at least the beginning of the semester. Her school has a great plan, and I’m STILL spending several hundred a week on a tutor. The large public school system is full remote now for the entire semester. My friends with kids in that system are freaking out...their remote learning was terrible in the Spring, and there is not a lot of confidence that it will be significantly better. Several have pulled their kids and put in private schools...which are opening for the most part (following protocols, ofc.) Enrollment is way up at most private schools in my area. A couple of my neighbors have set up learning groups for their younger children with paid tutors coming to teach small groups. They will be meeting on porches and such, and socially distancing.

Honestly, I wonder if the pandemic will be another nail in the coffin for public education. The teachers in our state have been protesting HARD to not go back into the classroom. Local school boards are listening to their demands and going full remote. But...no one is paying attention to the silent crisis of sub-par education our kids are receiving, and the impacts on the mental health of our kids. So parents are taking the education of their kids into their own hands in often creative ways. I am curious how many won’t go back to public education when the pandemic ends. Guess who will suffer if this happens? Yes...economically disadvantaged kids. They will once again be on the short end of the stick. It’s a hard call...I certainly don’t want any teachers to become ill, but they may be protesting their way out of a job. Healthcare workers, truckers, grocery store employees are all working, using protocols...I feel like teaching the children of our country is likewise essential. Parents aren’t going to let their children get a sub par education if any other options are available.

Nini, the remote learning in the spring should be totally unlike the fall. In the spring, even schools that had been preparing for some kind of remote learning over the past year or more, were not prepared to actually implement it on a full scale, with unprepared children and families. For the fall, I know our districts have been preparing for just this possibility, and the administration has been working to create the environment and teachers for online lesson plans. They will be doing a hybrid this fall (most other area districts will be exclusively remote). So, I’m not quite ready to completely shortchange the remote learning this fall. It will be better, though of course not as good as being in class. A big factor will be how do families implement it? There is no way to control that. I’m thinking that churches could also step up, maybe, and host some of their children in the church building and help Coordinate the e-learning.

I‘m thinking that the day camp model could be beneficial. If they can create pods within the camp of kids from the same school and maybe grade, it will be much easier on them, and on the counselors.

The problem as I see it is that the so-called protocols are not protecting people from the virus. If we sent teachers back to school with hazard pay AND a disability rider of full pay while they were out if they contracted Covid 19 that did not take away from their regular sick days or pay.......maybe.

There's also the huge problem of disadvantaged children not having the funds to be part of these pods or pools, and being further left behind.

The NYT published an article about that very thing, Terriks, a few days ago. The pods in New York that one teacher is putting together cost $25,000 per child with a maximun of about 10 kids if I remember correctly. Edited to post link:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/opinion/pandemic-pods-schools.amp.html

This is capitalism at its worst, caused and further enabled by the total failure of our government to:

1. acknowledge the problem, 2.understand how it affects people, 3.make a plan and

4.implement the plan to combat the virus as we know how,

5.properly fund research for a vaccine (instead of touting friends’ cures in an astonishing display of cronyism),

6.employ science and experts to design nationwide school solutions,

7.to support the incomes of those who lost their jobs, and to

8.protect the weak and voiceless elderly Americans who are dying at an unprecedented rate.

I am working right now with a camp that is trying to figure out how to keep their resources accessible. This summer they did small family groups who could stay together in cabins and also "day camps" for parents to attend with kids. I've bee working on upping my online presence and video capabilities.

This has got me wondering because I have always wondered if I could do consulting where I brought programs to your house or small groups came to mine. I didn't think there would be enough of a market for it, but this pandemic may change things. I was sort of planning on going back into the classroom, but I am no longer lovin' that idea. Depends on how well my state and region manages the pandemic. So far we're about a C, although B- in some places and B in others.

A friend of mine, who is a breast cancer survivor, is sending her 8th-grade son to boarding school this school year because of COVID. The kids have to wear masks and social distance for the first few weeks and they're taking other precautions although I'm not sure what they are. The staff will be living on campus and students will only leave campus during the semester this year for necessary things like doctor's appointments. Assuming it all goes well, she won't see her son in person until Christmas break. She's not looking forward to it but her doctors told her that she needs to be strictly quarantined and her son, who has ADHD did horribly during distance learning this spring. This is obviously only a rich person's solution.

Omg, @Feathers11...where was that op-Ed??? That line of thought is terrifying. I can guarantee you that no parent I know will settle for that lame excuse.

Nini, unfortunately, I don't remember. I read so much about this for my work, and I only bookmark a certain segment that relates directly to what I do. I recall it was written by a father who appeared very solidly mid-to-upperclass based on his bio, and he was speaking to the fears of that demographic of parent not sending their kids back to the classroom. It was written in July when these alternative formats for learning hadn't become as mainstream as they are now. I recall discussing the article with a colleague who also has elementary school-age children. It eased her mind, but I thought, "yeah... you can afford to supplement and support your child's online learning, though..." In my line of work, a big discrepancy is still access to hardware and software, as well as general family and home environment support of online learning. These are areas severely lacking for a significant portion of students this fall. It's to the point where I believe this is where my volunteer time will be.

eta, Nini, we both find it lame probably for different reasons though.

Not sure what you mean by that. I cannot imagine any parent settling for mediocre education just bc everyone is getting a mediocre education. If that is the case, our country is doomed. I am grateful that the private sector is stepping up to fill this (hopefully) temporary void. I know that some of these camps in our area (the Y is one) is offering a sliding scale for families so that more can participate. There is an amazing non-profit that our family supports that provides tech to low income families and even brokers very reduced internet connections for low income families. My point was...the teacher‘s unions who are pressing for all remote instruction might be harming the future of public education as the private sector wisely is filling this void. Many families may not go back to public, which would lead to renewed interest in vouchers, etc. All of this would most likely harm children who are economically disadvantaged, at least in the short term.

This is a similar op ed written by a teacher in the Atlanta public school system. The link was in my post above. Maybe it doesn’t work if you don’t have a subscription to the New York Times? Google this title below. It is sober reading and I say that as a person who attended boarding school myself and who sent two of her three children to BS.

The Latest in School Segregation: Private Pandemic ‘Pods’

July 22, 2020

Nini, the rise in numbers of small private schools during segregation in the south only served to keep people apart; in many cases the education they provided was not only not superior, it was inferior to public schools. That is one reason, IMO, that public schools in the north and Midwest far consistently outrank those in the south. We hobbled our public schools with less funding just to get white kids away from them in the sixties and seventies. Many charter schools in the south have also drained funding from mainstream public schools and have allowed de facto segregation all over again, just paid for this time around with tax money. And historically the charters have not provided a superior education on the whole.

Oh, I did read that article (I have a NYT subscription) and it frustrated the poo out of me. At the risk of framing the school situation In a political light...it appears that while the left is vigorously opposing re-opening schools, it is also bemoaning the fact that parents are taking matters into their own hands and using creative and private-sector methods to ensure their children are educated and that they can go to work. The author even said she had no idea how to solve the problem, but she certainly condemned these parents! So many people are arm-chair quarterbacking the pandemic in real time and bias is glaring. It’s a pandemic! No one has done this before! Instead of condemning school systems who are attempting to open...get involved with the elected officials to make sure the schools are following CDC protocols. Hell, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children be in school. But if you’re going to close the schools, don’t guilt parents who are wanting to educate their children anyway they can and don’t want their children to be mediocre bc ”we’ll all be mediocre together!” 🙄 I literally can’t.

It’s safer from a public health perspective to open elementary schools than middle and High schools. You have undoubtedly seen the pictures from Jefferson Ga schools and those in Paulding County of hallways jammed with students and about 10% wearing masks. My state is the redneck capital of the world....losing a year of schooling is not going to ruin an already ignorant population. Fellow Georgians, I am not saying this to be mean, merely pragmatic.

Since I used to live in Virginia, I became familiar with its history:

Virginia closed public schools vs. integrate them

It seems like history is repeating itself.

Thanks, Kswl.

I'm hopeful this immense challenge will, in the long run, be a much-needed reset for public education. One thing I'm not reading much about is the idea of minimizing the time kids are in school, in an effort to minimize the overall risk. It's something I've been employing in my own strategy of assessing risk throughout the pandemic. A five-minute trip to the grocery store is far less risky than 45 minutes in the store, and I try to keep that at the forefront of my mind.

There is a great deal of non-instructional time in every school day, and as a former teacher myself, I've often tried to quantify the amount of true instruction time I've had each day because it often frustrated me. So often I would think, if I could just get two solid hours, I could........" I think most parents would be stunned at how much time is spent on administrative duties, transitioning in, transitioning out, lunch, recess, assemblies, etc. True instructional time is continuously compromised. Off the top of my head, I've always estimated the amount of true instruction time to be about two hours a day for elementary students. I could imagine a scenario where 1/2 of a teacher's students come in from 8-10:30 The room is disinfected from 10:30--11, during a teacher planning period. The teacher gets lunch from 11-12, and the other half of the students come in from 12-2:30 The final portion of the day is dedicated to parent phone calls, staff meetings, lesson planning, admin. tasks, etc.

This report does a great job of illustrating the minimal true academic learning time in a typical school day (from 4-52 minutes/subject depending on the quality of the teacher, the school, etc.). I worry about the constant talk of extending the school year, the school day, etc. because I just see that as factoring in more wasted time. That's why I say perhaps this will be a much-needed reset. Perhaps we will finally recognize that we need to prioritize instructional time, keep it tight and focused, and use the rest of the 'school day' to provide study centers, extracurriculars, etc. -all of which would help working parents keep their children productively engaged during the day.

Part of the statement (7-10-20), that is often missed, from the American Academy of Pediatrics about schools reopening...

“ “Local school leaders, public health experts, educators and parents must be at the center of decisions about how and when to reopen schools, taking into account the spread of COVID-19 in their communities and the capacities of school districts to adapt safety protocols to make in-person learning safe and feasible. For instance, schools in areas with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should not be compelled to reopen against the judgment of local experts. A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for return to school decisions.”

Our district Hillsborough County (Florida, includes Tampa) has decided that schools would open remotely for the first month of school.

The governor now has threatened withholding state funds to the district.

I think the main take away from the AAP is that in-person schooling, while having inherent risks, is preferable to leaving students (especially lower-income students) at home. At least that’s what I was left with after I read the report last month.

That was an interesting article @gsciencechick. I think the difference now is that the left is wanting to keep kids at home, where many will receive a lesser education, instead of racists wanting the schools closed to keep them from being integrated.

I am arguing that jurisdictions should do everything they can to open schools to keep the playing field more level (even though we know there is no such thing as a truly level playing field) rather than let parents resort to private alternatives so that they can work and their children will be properly educated. I feel like it will be hard to put that genie back in the bottle. I’m seeing it with my own eyes right here. I’m actually DOING it by hiring private tutors to augment my high schooler’s learning. I’m not trying to harm other kids...I just want my kid to get what she needs. If our school were fully open I wouldn’t need to do this.

That‘s why I just shake my head at the media “tsk-tsking” schools that are trying to open, and I shake my head at the media “tsk-tsking“ parents who are being creative by using private methods to educate. You can’t have it both ways.

Bestyears has an excellent point about instruction time. That was one (of many things) that I had trouble gently getting across to the parents of my students. I had 2 sets of parents who wanted me teaching via Zoom for 5.5 hours a day (I teach 6/7 year olds) and other parents were very worried that their child was not able to sit and do the work I assigned for 2 hours at a time. I realized that many had the idea of school in the time of Laura Ingalls Wilder where kids were chained to their desks 6 hours a day, escaping only to play at recess. Not how I teach.

My situation is different than the usual public school, but most of my students completed most if not all of the content that I would have delivered in class during the same time frame. I only had 2 students whose parents were not on board with online learning. The rest gave it their all and their kids missed out on socialization, the specialist subjects (music, dance, french, phys ed), and some extra pieces (because lots became book learning and I usually teach inquiry based learning), but, overall, they got a pretty good education.

However, even tho I'm proud of how we did with online learning, I am dreading the thought of doing it again.

Honestly, this thread is scaring me. Like I said, I live and work in a bit of a bubble, but if a huge segment of any society is kept from taking part in the privileges of the few, it never ends well for those at the top of the pyramid and many suffer along the way to revolution. Not a strategy I'd support even if it means less for me and mine now.

Daisy, thank you for that insightful comment. If we don’t provide a good social safety net and educate all children to the best of our ability, many garden Webbers will end up living in fenced compounds with armed guards patrolling their neighborhoods.

Bestyear, I agree with you on every point. If it were up to me I would do away with competitive sports in high schools and colleges In favor of intramurals. Schools are for learning. Some people seem to think they exist to provide a vicarious life for the middle aged.

Nini, science is inherently apolitical. It‘s not a matter of “the left” or “the right” deciding when and how to reopen schools. Those decisions and guidelines are for the experts to decide and for the schools to abide. My point about private education undertaken hastily and for the wrong reasons is that it is often inferior. But, there are always people who believe if they pay more, it’s got to be better. Thats another unfortunate legacy of capitalism.

We are all in this together.....or are we? The Unraveling of America

”In a dark season of pestilence, COVID has reduced to tatters the illusion of American exceptionalism. At the height of the crisis, with more than 2,000 dying each day, Americans found themselves members of a failed state, ruled by a dysfunctional and incompetent government largely responsible for death rates that added a tragic coda to America’s claim to supremacy in the world.”

So sad and so true.

Wow, Bonnie, THAT is a great piece. Thank you for the link. There are about 100 quotable lines!

"Odious as he may be, Trump is less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent. As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country. The republic that defined the free flow of information as the lifeblood of democracy, today ranks 45th among nations when it comes to press freedom. In a land that once welcomed the huddled masses of the world, more people today favor building a wall along the southern border than supporting health care and protection for the undocumented mothers and children arriving in desperation at its doors. In a complete abandonment of the collective good, U.S. laws define freedom as an individual’s inalienable right to own a personal arsenal of weaponry, a natural entitlement that trumps even the safety of children; in the past decade alone 346 American students and teachers have been shot on school grounds.

The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness."

I wrote my Master's thesis on using the Internet in education, and that was 20 years ago. We still haven't figured out how to maximize the benefits of the Internet in education, and one of the stumbling blocks is the technology has developed amazing capabilities, but our ability to access it, use it, and maintain it, has not kept pace. Not by a long shot. Pandemic or not, digital technology was and is revolutionizing education. But it will not take away the inherent problems of equitable access to educational resources or make up for a deficiency of high quality staff and leaders. In fact, it tends to amplify such things. That said, technology is not the enemy, it is only a tool that can be used for good or bad purposes. But we are its masters, and the onus for the quality of our public education lies with us. You cannot educate in a vacuum. In fact, a child is educated by their environment, whether we want them to be or not. I've been working with underserved communities for decades, opening school or not opening school is not the issue, the issue is the connection of the schooling to the PEOPLE of the community, and that is a melting pot of variables. Do you think kids were safe in schools before the pandemic? Do you think underserved schools were healthy environments with strong infrastructure before the pandemic? Sorry but this is one of my hot button issues. The weak and vulnerable in our society are really showing stress, including our kids and elders, because we don;t seem to understand how VALUABLE our fellow humans are. The behavior of the stock market is not the only metric for our society, and if we want quality education we have to work harder and do better, regardless of the pandemic.

My daughter attends a predominantly low-income, predominantly non-white public high school in Oakland, CA. High school, of course, is a whole different ball game than elementary school. I think that remote learning can work well for this age group for many subjects. My daughter had 8 classes in the spring. Two were basically write-offs for remote learning--P.E. and orchestra. I think there are probably ways to do orchestra remotely (one of my adult choirs managed to transition to Zoom in the spring, imperfectly, but better than nothing), but I don't think her instructor had the tech skills or vision to transition quickly. English, chemistry, and history transitioned pretty well, though my daughter complained that some of the chemistry materials lacked a complete explanation and would have been clearer and less frustrating with in-person learning. Her French teacher turned the class loose on Duolingo (free online language learning platform). Since my daughter hated French, that didn't work all that well for her (completely lacking self-motivation). Her Intro to Engineering Design class teacher wasn't very effective at online teaching. My daughter downloaded the CAD software they had been using in class to her laptop (which we are fortunate to be able to afford while most of her classmates cannot), and I set her to designing side tables and lampshades for me. Which she seemed to enjoy. Her last class, geometry, she had complained about all year as mostly covering things she learned in middle school, so not learning anything in the spring was more of the same.

Her schools has been working diligently to get all the students chromebooks and connectivity for this school year, and it sounds like they have been effective in doing so. They started this week. Unlike their normal semester with 8 classes divided into A days and B days, they have divided the semester into "minimesters" of four classes each. This seems to be because they recognize how soul-sucking endless hours of Zoom meetings are. Fewer classes at a time, a deeper dive into the material, and more independent ("asynchronous") work relative to lecture time.

Fortunately, my daughter is pretty self motivated. And fortunately, we have the resources that let me buy her a new laptop at the beginning of all this because she was frustrated with the hand-me-down she had from her dad (mostly because she wasn't an admin and had to go through him every time she wanted to make a change, which seemed to be more of a barrier than it probably sounds; we're divorced so I didn't have a direct view into that dynamic). We have good internet at home. With her summer plans disrupted (she had a job last summer at a summer camp), I suggested and she followed through with an online programming course (free).

I think remote learning will be more effective this year. I think that it has settled in with all the teachers that this is for the long haul (here, at least), and even the most reluctant have had time to move from the complete deer-in-the-headlights reaction of the technologically challenged to come up with some kind of plan. I'm sure some will still be way less effective than others, but I'm confident it will be better than the spring.

We are in NJ which was one of the hardest-hit states but our numbers have greatly improved. Our son attends private high school which is opening 5 days a week full time. Our local public schools are doing a hybrid of 2 half days and the rest is remote instruction. I think I am the only mother I know IRL who is dreading sending their child back! They had remote instruction in the Spring and it went really well. Each student has a Chromebook.